Upright spral track ball game



July 6, 1965 J. J. MEHELICH 3,193,292

UPRIGHT SPIRAL TRACK BALL GAME Filed Jan. 18, 1963 2 h e l '1 '1 Fig. l

INVENTOR JGHA/ J Mew/54 10-! July 6, 1965 J. J. MEHELICH 3,193,292

UPRIGHT SPIRAL TRACK BALL GAME Filed Jan. 18, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I NVEN TOR. JOHN J, MEI-{EA "H ZZJZM H/s A rraewev United States Patent Oflice 3,l%,22 Patented July 6, 1965 3,193,292 UPRIGHT SPRAL TRAGK BALL GAME John fl. Mehelich, Pittsburgh, Pa, assiguor to Wolverine Toy Company, Pittsburgh, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Jan. 13, 1963, Ser. No. 252,494 1 Claim. (til. 273-101) This invention relates generally to toys and more particularly to a track enclosed, single operator, self-contained ball shooting game.

The principal object of this invention is the provision of a ball shooting game made with transparent side walls integrally joined to a perimetral flange that holds the walls in spaced relation and provides a spiral track that overlaps itself to form an inner open loop.

There are a plurality of balls, the diameter of each being half the distance of the side walls, but freely movable therebetween. An upwardly open ball scoring pocket means supported by at least one of the side walls and projecting within the inner space of the track loop enables the balls, when struck by a catapult member, to travel around the spiral track and leave the spiral track at a point above the upwardly open ball scoring pocket means due to the forces of gravity. Thus the force by which the ball is catapulted produces a particular trajectory to permit dropping the ball in a particular scoring pocket. The catapult means includes a stationary member with a hole therein that permits a portion of the last ball to be exposed therethrough. The catapult mechanism is in the form of a spring to engage the exposed ball and catapult the innermost ball along the track and between the side walls and allow its trajectory when leaving the upper portion of the track to carry it to a selected of the upwardly open ball scoring pockets. With this character of structure one may become adept in selecting the right force to be applied to the catapult in attempting to gain a high score, the several upwardly open ball scoring pockets having different scoring values depending upon the relative position of the scoring pocket. This device is principally adapted for reproduction in plastics and may be provided with a foot that is larger in length and width than the game so as to properly support the same during play.

The structure forming the loop and the manner in which the loop is formed together with the arrangement of the upwardly open pockets and the catapult mechanism all contribute to this invention in their cooperation with each other and thus each part of the game provides a distinctive improved combination with relation to the other parts all of which provide specific objects and improvements in this invention.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claim.

The accompanying drawings show for the purpose of exemplification without limiting the invention and claim thereto certain practical embodiments illustrating the principles of this invention wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of the game comprising this invention.

FIG. 2 is an end view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken on the line .,-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a view in horizontal section taken on the line 44 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the catapult device.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings the base 1 is provided with the sloping sides 2 and the sloping ends 3 which form a frustum of a pyramid having a top surface 4. A little more than half of the top surface 4 of the pyramid has an upwardly extending fence 5 that terminates on the right-hand end of the structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 with opposed inwardly open pockets 6 on each side thereof. The opposite sides 7 of the fence 5 are parallel and the central transverse plane extending between the opposed pockets 6 is parallel to the end Wall 8. Thus this frustum of a pyramid provides stability to the game which is supported within the upstanding walls defined by the wall 5 and the top 4 of the frustum is substantially as large as the game that it supports thereabove. The s 'ucture of this pyramid is preferably made of molded plastic and the sides thereof may be indented as illustrated at 19 to provide strength in the base and also provide a convenient ledge 11 for the marking of the name of the toy.

The toy itself, which represents a superstructure supported from the base 1, may be made in many different sizes, but it is essentially an enclosed self-contained game consisting of right and left hand transparent walls 12 and 13 preferably made of plastic and perimetral flange means connect these two side walls integrally, joining them to hold them in spaced relation. As shown more clearly in FIG. 4 the side 12 is provided with a flange 14 and the side 13 is provided with the flange 15. The outer ends of these flanges are turned outwardly to form the rim U flanges l6 and 17 that are, with the adjacent edges of the flanges 14- and 15, integrally secured to each other to seal and enclose the game. The rim flanges 16 and 17 extend upwardly from the vertical section 18 as shown in FIG. 1 and thence to the six oclock position illustrated at 23 and thence clockwise along an integral spiral 21 to approximately the three oclock position 22. The flanges at this position turn horizontally outward as indicated at 23 and enclose the tops of the enclosed inwardly open slots 24 and 25 which extend vertically downwardly from the flanges 23 and are open at the bottom. A stationary propulsion member in the form of the metal strip 26 is sufliciently wide to be slid upwardly within the opposed slots 24 and 25 and when the game structure is mounted on the surface of the fore of the pyramid, the surface 4 closes the bottom of the oppositely opposed slots 24- and 25 and thus retains the member 26 in position, its upper end being held under the flanges 23 and being wider than the lap forming the slots 24 and 25 and thus retains this portion of the propeller device staunchly mounted relative to the game.v This device may be a thin strip of metal or it may be plastic and it is provided with a pair of small spaced openings 27 adjacent the top for the riveting of the portion of the catapult member 28 thereto which is provided with similar holes 27 for receiving the rivets to permanently attach the catapult member 23 to the member 26. The catapult member 28 is preferably made of a light spring steel and is provided with a knob 30 at the lower end thereof which is riveted thereto and the opposite side of the rivet as indicated at 31 projects inwardly of the inner face of the catapult member 28.

-A stationary catapult member 26 is also provided with a large opening 32 and a small opening 33. The large opening 32 permits one to remove and insert balls into the game by pulling the catapult member 28 outwardly to expose this hole.

The small opening 33 is in line with the knob 30 and will receive the rivet head 31. This opening 33 is located substantially at the large diameter of the ball members 54 which when on the bottom section of the track may project slightly through the opening 33 or will at least be exposed in this opening and when the catapult member 28 is drawn rearwardly by the knob 30 and releases the head 31 of the rivet it strikes the ball adjacent the opening 33 and the force is transmitted to the outermost ball causing it to be catapulted up around the track 21 into upwardly open pockets 35. It will be noted that the ball members are greater than one-half the distance between the sides 12 and 13, if they are not as great as the full distance and, therefore, may freely pass between the walls 12 and 13 and may bounce around and engage one or the other of the walls making it more difiicult to produce a score.

Thus the perimetral flange means integrally connecting the side walls 12 and 1-3 actually forms the track from the six ocl-ockposition to the three oclock position. However, in order to extend this track opposed flanges 36 and 3-7 as illustrated in FIG. 4 are provided from the six oclock position to the opening 33 or the bottom right hand corner of the game. These spaced opposed flanges may approach each other adjacent the six oclock position as illustrated at 38 so that the balls are readily rolled from the track formed by the flanges 36 and 37 on to the solid track section extending -from the six oclock position to the three oclock position or from 20 to 22.

Since the track terminate-s by the flangemeans at 22 each of the side members '12 and 13 are provided with inwardly projecting flange members 40 and 41 that continue inwardly the spiral track and stop beyond the end spaced from the track to provide the track loop '3? which is open as indicated at 42' to permit the balls to enter the open loop.

If the catapult mechanism is brought back far enough to strike the balls hard, one or more of the balls may completely encircle the full track from the starting position as shown on the track formed by the flanges 36 and '37, the centrifugal force maintaining contact between the ball and the track until after it passes once or twice beyond the end of the track as indicated at the mouth or opening 42 before the kinetic energy in the ball is expanded. Thus the ball might make two full revolutions befiore dropping in a pocket or back into the starting point or it might make one full revolution before dropping into an upwardly open scoring pocket or by a smaller force on the catapult it may leave the track 21 about the three oclock position and travel through a trajectory to any other of the upwardly open scoring pockets.

As shown in the drawings there are three dilfe-rent scoring pockets 43, 44, and 45, each of which is preferably formed in half sections, each half being secured to its respective side member 12 and 13. Like the track sections 36 and 37 and 40 and 41, these upwardly open scoring pockets are formed integral with the side members 12 and 13 and when they are brought together they are not glued or integrally secured to each otherbut a small pin formed integral on one side will extend into a hole in the other member to maintain them in properly aligned relation and although they appear to be a single upwardly :open pocket means they are in fact made into sections.

The scoring pocket 43 is the highest of the three and the lowest scoring pocket is indicated at 44 whereas the scoring pocket 45 is slightly lower than the scoring pocket 43 and slightly higher than the scoring pocket 44. It will also be noted that each of the scoring pockets are open upwardly to the top of the track and there is a slight horizontal distance between the adjacent ends of the three upwardly open scoring pockets.

Below the scoring pockets a negative scoring pocket is formed by a U-shaped metal member 46 having a scalloped or circular edge on which is printed the scoring for the corresponding upwardly open scoring pocket. This negative scoring member 46 can be of any suitable design and it is preferably U-shaped with the opposite sides being parallel to the same extent so that it is substantial'ly as wide as the sides 12 and 13. Each of the sides 12 and '13 are provided with the inturned pins 47, 48, 49 and 50 which pass through an opening in the sheet metal pockets for the purpose of supporting the same. These pins are spaced under the center of the uppermost scoring pockets 43 and 45. The'ends of the bottom of the U-shaped pocket 46 are provided with upward-1y extending tabs 51 and 52 that will hold the balls therebetween for the fulld-istance of the extent of this scoring member. Any balls resting on the top or upward ly open scoring pockets will provide a positive score. Any balls that drop down are held between the tabs 51 and 52 and deduct from the score of the upwardly open scoring pockets. It will be found that it is quite easy to make the negative scoring pocket 46.

Thus before placing the two molded sides 12 and 13 together the scoring mechanism 46 is placed on the pins 47 to 50 of one member and the solvent of the plastic is placed on the perimetral flanges 16 and 17 and when they are brought together the pins of the other member hold the negative scoring pocket in position and the other scoring pockets 43, 44 and 45 become aligned by their pins and after a proper length of time the device is secured together and the assembly of the upper portion is complete. The catapult member 28 is riveted to the stationary plate 26 which is then slid upwardly in the opposed grooves 24 and 25 and the bottom flanges 5-3 and 54 are then cemented or otherwise formed integral with the upper face 4' of the pyramid 1 in the encircling wall 5, the circular member forming the grooves 24 and 25 being inserted in the encircling members 6 of the Wall 5 and a solvent or cement is placed between the adjacent surfaces of the assembled game member and the inner surfaces of the fence and the fore of the frustum of the pyramid thereby securing the device to the base.

Each of these features in the form of structural design aid in producing an improved game which is particularly advantageous and provides a patentable improvement over that of the art. a

I claim:

An upright spiral track ball game consisting of an integral spiral track having side edges and overlapping itself to form an open loop with an upturned inner track end and a substantially tangential outer track end, transparent parallel side walls attached to said opposite side edges of said track to enclose and support the same, a base supporting said side walls, upwardly open ball scoring pocket means supported by at least one of said'side Walls and projecting into the inner space of said track loop but spaced from said track, a plurality of balls freely movable on said track between said side walls to be received in said upward-1y open ball scoring pocket means, a back wall attached to said side walls at said outer track end, said back wall having a small opening adjacent said outer track end' for the partial protrusion of a ball resting on said outer track end, said back wall having a large opening above a ball positioned at said small hole, said large opening being sufiicient in size for inserting and removing balls to said outer track end, and a propelling device in the form of a flexible strip secured at one end to said back wall and covering said small and large openings to prevent the escape of balls therefrom, the release of said propelling device after being flexed to strike a ball partially protruding through said small opening catapulting the innermost ball along said spiral track and propelling it ofi the loop to alight in a scoring pocket means or return to said outer track end.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 170,948 11/ 5'3 Schigas 2731 19 X 3,108,808 10/63 Peterson 273101 FOREIGN PATENTS 7,088' 1896 Great Britain. 459,187 8/ 5 0 Italy.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner. 

